


Loudly Quiet, Quietly Loud

by CometMystic



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School
Genre: Anxiety, Dissociation, Gen, Implied Tsumiki Mikan/Mioda Ibuki, Implied Tsumiki Mikan/Nanami Chiaki, Italics, Self-Esteem Issues, Swearing, as long as you know this isnt straight and tsumiki just likes hand holding youre good !!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 13:28:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8447710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CometMystic/pseuds/CometMystic
Summary: Hinata meets someone whose thoughts buzz around as loudly as his do.





	

    Hinata glared forward, but his eyes weren't seeing much of anything. His thoughts were swallowing him whole, as they have been for what felt like weeks. He had a big day, and a big decision ahead of him, and, try as he might, he couldn't bring himself to pry his doubts and fears about them out of his mind. He couldn't focus, and, as far as his perception was concerned, people just teleported into his field of view and then vanished fractions of a second later. And he just managed to register this happening again, as usual, until something broke the pattern. A sound. It was either a voice or a police siren. Please, God, let it be the former, he thought, as he brought his attention to the real world, though not without herculean effort.

    "...sorry...!" Was the first word he managed to pick up. Didn't really do him any favors, so it was time to ask the question that was all too familiar to him.

    "What?" He sounded way harsher and more mumbly than he would have liked, but, hey, he tried his best.

    "Awawawa, I'm sorry I didn't mean to intrude I just saw you looking pale and I got worried so I had to get over here and have you listen to me shrill at you when you probably just wanted to be alone and away from eyesores like me and-"

    Impressed as he was with how much whoever this was could talk without taking a breath, he needed to put a stop to it before it dragged them both into a breakdown. But this person was in a bad spot, so tact would be necessary. Hinata scanned the other, looking for something to say that wouldn't make all that stress worse, when the bandages caught his eye.

    "Hey, you're, uh... Tsumiki Mikan, the nurse, right? Nanami's friend?" He straightened his back on the bench (oh, right, he was sitting here) and flashed it the warmest smile he could manage at his state. So, not quite scorching, but not tepid either. A victory in his book.

    At first, he thought he screwed up big time, as she let out a gasp that almost sucked his soul right out of his body and hurled her eyes to the floor to break eye contact, but the cute shade of pink that started to barge into her face calmed his nerves a bit.

    "I'm... Friend... That's..." A warm smile tugged at her cheeks. "That's me, eheheh... And you're H-Hina...ta," she finally replied, still avoiding eye contact, choosing instead to look at her hands she was fidgeting with.

    "Huh? How'd you know me?" Knowing Tsumiki is only natural, considering she's a Kibougamine freshman, meaning her face and name is all over forums, but Hinata is just a nobody, who spends most of his time snarking in his head and hating himself. It felt kind of unbelievable that anyone would even care to know something like that at campus. Or anywhere at all. But now's not the time to make things awkward and depressing - that comes after the "nice to meet you".

    "Nanami-san t-talks about you a lot... She said you're hard to miss because of... The..." She held out her index finger in her left hand and placed it over her head where she wiggled it around. Hair antenna. Figures. He would get annoyed at this, but the pantomiming was adorable enough to be worth it.

    "I get that a lot." Snickering, he shuffled to his feet. "So, uh, yeah, I'm Hinata Hajime. Hope we can get along," he replied, extending a hand to her.

    She jumped a little at the gesture, and finally met his eyes again. "Um, I hope so too...! My name... I-it's Tsumiki Mikan." Her grip on his hand was a lot firmer than he expected. Like she didn't want to let go.

    _Yeah, I know. I just told you._ But that was too harsh for the time being, so he kept it to himself. "And I'm Hinata Hajime!" Another smile, but this one was a lot livelier than before, to match the silly joke.

    Her face blanked, her body froze, and Hinata could hear gears and hamster wheels flying in a tornado going wild in her head. 

    "I... Y-you, um..." Any minute, now. 

    "B-but you already..." Warmer. 

    "Oh!" Ding. "...M-my name is... Tsumiki Mikan?" Hinata felt a weight of a hundred shaggy dogs being lifted from his back as soon as he noticed Tsumiki resuming the handshake and playing along. That lighthearted giddiness suited her.

    "Well, I guess we're well acquainted now, huh?" He decided this handshake had overstayed its welcome, and slid his hands into his pockets.

    "Y-yeah, eheh..." And back to the floor her eyes went, this time with the added bonus of her left hand holding onto her other arm is if it was about to fly off. It's about to get awkward again. Time to think of something else.

    "So, uh, what brings you here? I mean, I know I was having a weird moment back there, but I don't normally see you walk around here at this hour." ...He thinks.

    "Um, I... We have a p-party planned... Ibuki-san and I were in charge of f-food and entertainment... I'm... Getting food, obviously, eheh..." Her smile grew a bit. Ibuki was the technicolor musician, right? Yeah. ...Yeah.

    Hinata clears his throat. "Do you need help with that? 'Cause you're going to have stuff to carry, and I got nothing to do."

    "O-oh, no, no, please, you don't need to force yourself to waste your time with a grotty old smelly hog...!" Her expression finally drops again, along with her head, her posture, her spirit, and, frankly, it surprised Hinata that she didn't just flop down face first.

    "I'm not forcing myself, Tsumiki, I want to. Your company's been nice. Unless you don't want me to go, which is fine," he spoke with the softness you'd use to charm a frightened bunny made of glass on a paper airplane tied to helium balloons.

    "Uuu... W-well, if you insist... P-please don't ditch me while I'm not looking, though! I'm sorry!" She looked like she was calming down and tensing up, all at the same time. It'd be nice to see her a bit more comfortable with things. _Soon,_ Hinata told himself.

    "Don't worry, I wouldn't. You're thinking about going to that supermarket across the intersection, right?" She nods. "Sounds like a plan! Let's go."

    It only took a few steps for Hinata to notice he was leading the way. That in itself wasn't a problem, but what was is the distance Tsumiki was putting between the two of them. She wasn't comfortable with it in the least - hunched shoulders, eyes borrowing holes into the floor - but this was her doing, and there was effort behind it. Her steps almost felt calculated, and that would only serve to weigh down on her already anxious mind. Was there anything he could do to get her out of the defensive? The only thing he could think of was -

    _Shit._ Why is he getting embarrassed over this. God _damn_ it. Please let him not be blushing right now. 

    "Hey, uh, Tsumiki? It's kind of crowded here, don't you think?" It really wasn't, but he hoped she wasn't keeping track of that. "Wouldn't want to lose you or anything, so..." He, once again, extended a hand to her, this time, with a poignant lack of eye contact on his part, staring instead at the bench he sat on before for a totally good reason and not to avoid embarrassment over holding someone he just met's hand at all, yep.

    She hesitated, making little groans as she mulled it over. She sounded like she was about to say something, but instead opted to almost shove her hand into his. He noticed it was shaking.

    It didn't for long, though. And Hinata's thoughts went quiet, for once. The more they walked, the more it seemed their minds cleared together, even if they weren't saying much of anything to each other on their way.

    Maybe... He could do this more often.

**Author's Note:**

> good day !!! i hope this was a somewhat enjoyable read !!!! this was a little something someone requested yesterday, and i, being the smart lady that i am, decided to try and get it done in 24 hours, even though i know precisely nothing about writing ? waaa,, i think i played around with metaphors a little too much - probably going to want to tone that down ? i wanted it to be light hearted, because i wrote it for someone who was sad, but... mmmm... well, thank you for reading, an i hope im able to provide something more enjoyable to you soon !!!!


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